Polish luger loses protective visor, makes run anyway

Did you hear the one about the Polish luger who made a run without a visor?

No, that’s not the opening to a joke your uncle would tell. It’s an actual story out of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Somewhere between his second and third run, Mateusz Sochowicz misplaced his protective facemask and yet decided to go down the track anyway.

And here you thought there was nothing crazier than getting on a luge sled.

We kid, but there are few things cooler than being Polska tough.

Watch Sochowicz’s run here:

The visor, of course, is a very important part of luge equipment. Not only does it shield a luger’s face from blistering temperatures while going 80 MPH, it also allows them to, you know, see.

But Sochowicz didn’t have a choice but to get on his sled when he saw the green light that signaled his turn.

“What could I do?” Sochowicz asked a Polish newspaper. “I took off without the visor.”

Mateusz Sochowicz made a luge run without his protective visor. (Reuters photo)

Not being able to see severely hampered Sochowicz’s run. He finished with the 31st-best time for the third run after recording the 19th and 29th-best times over his first two runs.

Afterward, Sochowicz laughed and waved his hand in front of his face to demonstrate for cameras what he had just done.